Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For a while now the Reserve Bank has had a consistent message for those opposite in the federal government—that is, to create jobs and keep growing the economy they must invest in key infrastructure. Ten years ago in this place Wayne Swan, a Treasurer who actually believed in investing in infrastructure for our nation, established the Building Australia Fund to finance critical national infrastructure, including roads, rail and port infrastructure. Unfortunately, since those opposite came to power the Building Australia Fund has sat dormant. The money is there; they've budgeted for it. Now I'm calling on them to actually invest it.

In my electorate, fortunately, there's an ideal significant piece of infrastructure for our nation that is very much needed and ready to go. The federal government can invest in the ship lift for Darwin harbour right now. This is the truth of it: Darwin is the most likely location for us to mount military, national security and humanitarian operations to Australia's north and north-west. Darwin also has the only functional deepwater port on the north coast of Australia. A Darwin based ship lift facility would offer significant strategic benefits to not only Defence and Border Force but also other users, and there will be savings to the taxpayer. I call on those opposite to invest.